Tacklebuster

maybe I am not really grasping what you are doing, but to me its no different than setting up all your waypoints, routes, tracks, etc, on mapsource, and then copying them onto your GPS. The difference is you are using routes/tracks to mark the contours. Nonetheless, its a good idea, and I didn't think of doing this, not sure I will, its one tedious task to outline the contours. I wish there was a way to take your own map image and put it onto the GPS, because all the bluecharts I have only cover the great lakes, no inland lakes.

I have the E-Trex Legend which accepts maps. However, I just use the base map because nav maps very pricey. I use the Mapsource software along with Google Earth to plan my trips, by plotting the waypoints, tracks, and routes, and then just transfer them to my GPS unit, which seems to work fine. Just out of curiosity, I looked into the bluecharts, and please correct me if I am wrong, but I find that except for the major bodies of water there are very few, if any, maps for the inland lakes in Ontario. Bluechart seems to cover only US inland lakes. It seems to me that navionics has a much broader selection of maps that are more suitable for our lakes.

if they look like they are still fishable, back into the bag they go. If not into the garbage. However, this past fishing trip, for the first time I rigged up a drop shot rig. To me its one of those rigs I don't like setting up, and as such don't like to remove because I know its a good rig, and I won't be too quick to set up again unless nothing else is working. So last trip I was trying to figure out a way to keep it on my line, the problem was how to cover up the hook so no-one gets hurt or so it doesn't damage anything. I decided to use a beat up grub to cover the hook, works like a charm.

Although its not my goto lure, because I love fishing with spinner baits, but if I was only allowed one lure it would have to be a jig. Its probably the most diverse lure, can be fished in pretty much any condition, and I don't think there is a fish that won't hit one.

I saw your report too Johhny, it seemed you had pretty much the same results. Its not an easy lake to fish, they don't seem to be in what looks like a prime or obvious spot.

Friday, day 1: We arrived at camp site, the other campers were still breaking down their camp so we just threw the football around, and walked around until they were done. My younger son couldn't stand waiting to go fishing, he kept forgetting that we had to set up camp, Tarp City. As we are setting up, we realized all the things we forgot: 1 Sleeping bag, 1 camp chair, BBQ, coffee, tea, hatchets. I guess we figured that after all the fishing, hunting, camping trips we have done, that we could just wing it.........not, lesson learned. By the time we had everything set up, we decided to have dinner. Puckhead, prepared a great feast of fried/BBQ'd chicken legs (without the BBQ) and corn on the cob. Although a light drizzle started, my younger one couldn't stand waiting any longer, so I took him to fish from the docks. We only fished for about 25 minutes as the rain got heavier, I was happy that his urge to fish was temporarily satisfied. By the time we got back to our camp site the rain got heavier, and and within an hour, we got the beginning of the the 30mm of rain that had been forecast. My younger son now also realized the importance of having taken the time to set up our camp, and he also felt sorry for the campers who arrived later and had to set up camp in the downpour. I guess with all the fresh air, by 10pm the two boys were exhausted and decided to hit the sack. For the rest of the evening we sat under our tarps, playing cards, enjoying a few pops, and deciding who's turn it was to venture out into to rain and put wood on the fire. We were amazed how well the fire burned with all the rain, we thought there was no possible way the fire would keep burning. Saturday: We woke up to more rain, it hadn't stopped all night. It was forecast that it would start to clear in the afternoon. Puckhead whipped up an awesome breakfast of bacon and eggs. Looking at the sky, there was no reason to believe the rain would let up any time soon, so we decided rather than sit around, to go an fish under the overpasses. I haven't done this since I was practically a kid, so for me it was somewhat nostalgic. By the time we arrived at the spots we wanted to fish and and tried to figure out how to get access (since you can't park on the shoulder of the highway anymore), the rain had subsided and it looked like it was going to clear up. So we scrapped that plan, and decided to go back, load up the boat and hit the lake. As we headed back, I couldn't help but wonder if the Bush's still operated their marina. So much has changed, gates in front of the parking areas by the lock, billboards advertising condo's. Signs of change, and "progress", seemed to put a bit of a damper (for me) on the nostalgic feelings that I wanted to share with the kids. So heading back to the boat was perfect. All was going well, we had the boat all loaded up with our gear and stuff, wouldn't you know it, it started to pour again. It didn't look like it was worth trying to wait out, so back to the nearest overpass we went. We probably fished for about an hour or so without a nibble, and finally the rain had stopped, so eagerly back to the boat we went. Finally, we're heading out. I haven't been out since the bass opener, so it definitely was a feeling of relief, and you could tell the kids felt the same. We decided to hit one section of the lake that we became familiar with last year, figuring that as we make our way back in the evening we would also hit some of the other spots that also worked well for us. Everyone puts on their goto lures. I tie on mine, but this time its one that I made myself several days before, out of coat hanger wire, lol. Several casts in, a decent pike hits it, (what a thrill when you catch something on one of your homemade lures), once it gets into the net, it decides to go crazy, twisting and turning, and ends up busting my homemade lure as it got caught up in the mesh. Oh well, I have a few more coat hangers at home, lol. The most exciting hit came when a nice sized pike comes out of nowhere and hits Puckhead's topwater bait no more than 2 ft. from the boat. Unfortunately, it got away lure and all. After a couple of hours, the next weather front hit us and it started to rain again, and the wind started to picked up considerably as well. On with the rain gear, and we started to troll heading to an area where we new we could get into some bass. We only did that for a little while, with the wind and the rain, we decided to pull up our lines to see if we could get into a more sheltered bay. That was one very wet drive, the rain jacket alone didn't help one bit. I was drenched from the spray, and had one thing in mind, to get out of the wind. We finally get to a somewhat sheltered bay, and start marking fish right on the bottom between 25' and right down to 50'. I suggested my younger son tie on a jig tipped with a worm which he did on his own for the very first time, and set up a dropshot rig for myself, also for the very first time. I was happy about that, because my fingers were numb. It didn't take long and he had a nice rock bass on, so he was very happy. After a short while I had one on my rig too, but I must admit I didn't feel it until I started to reel up my line and then felt the weight. It was still about 5' below the surface, and all I saw was a yellow flash and off it was. I am not even sure it was actually hooked or if it just didn't want to let go of the bait. I assume it may have been a walleye. By that time I was chilled to the bone and was having a really hard time warming up so I didn't fish much after that point, and basically just drove the boat trying to keep us on top of some fish, and helped the kids out with their lures and such. Shortly afterwards, we had to head back, we just couldn't keep out of the wind, I was freezing, and it was time to get dinner and warm up. We get back to camp, only to find that the wind had dismantled tarp city, and blew the fly right off our tent. When we set up camp we had a hard time getting the pegs into the ground because of the granite just inches below surface. It didn't really bother me, I was just happy to be out of the wind, and I warmed up quite quickly as I worked on reassembling the tarps with my brother in-law, and the smell of dinner that Puckhead was cooking up sure helped too. After the camp was all set up, I had to change into some dry clothes, and had the next surprise. Our tent only has a mosquito mesh on the top, so without the fly, the rain got in. For some reason and thank goodness, only my side of the tent got wet and not the kids and not the sleeping bags. Except for one pair of pants and socks, my clothes were all wet where the water had pooled up, and which protected the kids sleeping bags from the water. I don't think sausages and beer ever tasted so good. At least the weather started to clear up, and the wind died down to the point where it became comfortable again. By the time we finished dinner, the boys were so exhausted, no surprise, they just wanted to go to sleep, the younger of the two asked me to carry him because he was too tired. My brother in-law also hit the sack early, but the evening turned out to be really nice, so Puckhead and I stayed up relaxing with a few pops and feeding the campfire. Sunday: The morning started with Puckhead once again cooking up a storm, this time it was french toast and bacon. I can't remember the last time I didn't have to cook anything for two days in a row, oh ya, it was when I lived at home and mom did all the cooking. I must admit I felt a bit guilty, but I couldn't help myself and just enjoy it. Thanks Puckhead. The weather was beautiful, and we had high expectations that the fishing was going to be filled with action. We decided to hit a different section of the lake that we had not explored yet. This part of the lake was quite different, it had great bottom structure in terms of transition, great bays, deep healthy weeds, shallow bays, whatever you wanted. It felt like we should be hitting them left right and centre. It was not meant to be. No matter how good it looked, and what we tried we just couldn't light it up like we expected. It was just the odd fish here and there, and all pike, no bass. The weather warmed up quite a bit too, it must have been at least 29. I can only assume that the weather must have been a factor. The most excitement came when my younger son had a fish on. "Whoa!, Whoa!, Whoa!, Whoa!, Whoa!, I got a fish!, its huge!, I need some help!" I think its time to upgrade his rod and real. We fished all over the place, and by 3pm we had to head back because Puckhead had to make his way back home, and unfortunately couldn't stay with us until Monday. After we said our goodbye's, we headed back out, and fished the area we were familiar with for the rest of the afternoon and into the evening. The fish finally started to turn on around 5pm, nothing great but enough to keep the kids from getting bored, which was great. We noticed that in the morning and during the day black colours caught the majority, and evenings white combinations seemed to be the colour of choice. The evening was so beautiful, we didn't get back to camp until 930pm, had dinner, my turn to cook this time, spaghetti that I pre-made. The kids were completely exhausted again, and pretty much hit the sack right after dinner. Afterwards, my brother in-law and I sat by the camp fire, contemplated our trip, and burned off the rest of the firewood. It was really nice to see the kids changing lures/bait on their own, asking how to use them, and of course catching. For the past couple of years my older son who is turning 12, seemed to lose interest in fishing so I didn't push it on him. Considering the conditions we had, it felt especially nice to see his interest and enthusiasm rekindled. Monday: The weather was again beautiful and perfect for breaking camp, so we took our time and enjoyed as much of the time we had left before having to head back home.

I have a Guest 3 bank charger, 2 for trolling motor deep cycle batteries, and one for the starter. I never connected the starter bank. When one of my deep cycle banks gave up on me, I used the free bank on the deep cycle. It took longer to charge the battery but it worked. In the future I would only buy a 2 bank charger for 2 deep cycle batteries.

No kidding, great story, its as though I was there, flashback to 48 hours ago. Its a great feeling.

I have to agree, Guest is one of the top brand names for on-board chargers. Why do you charge your starter battery, it shouldn't really need charging, except in the spring before your first outing of the year, or unless there are long stretches between outings. If you find that your starter battery needs charging, you either need a new one or you might have a problem with your alternator.

That must have hurt. Those guys are nuts!

Great Pics

What a Great report! Not that I didn't enjoy reading your pike reports from TO but that takes the cake, glad you moved... haha. Those bluefish are like piranha's. You got some ba!@'s dangling your foot in the water with those things and whatever else swimming around....not for me....boat only.

I remember that post, it created quite a stir and lots of replies. I am glad it worked out for you, and that charter of rights and freedoms prevailed as it is meant to. Clearly that CO overstepped his bounds, and hopefully he will remember. Thanks for the update.

We see it time and time again, these acts of kindness and generosity, that truly separate OFC and its members from the rest. Pam, your paintings are beautiful and a reflection of your passion.

If I remember correctly, minn kota recommends that you disconnect the foot pedal when you're charging the batteries, I disconnect everything anyhow.

Watch re-runs of Captain Highliner commercials, "Have you ever been to sea Billy?", I must be getting old.

Those are some great shots.

I realized after I set up the poll that I forgot to include top water baits, and I don't know how to or if I can still add it. Thanks Terry, and OhioFisherman.

Hi Everyone, Just looking for opinions to settle a debate. Your make your cast, or your trolling, and you get a good hit, set the hook, and its Fish On! Before you know its like the karate kid, Fish Off! So the question is, which type of lure you have lost more bass? I forgot to include surface/top water baits, so if you wish, you can just mention it in your reply. Thanks for you responses, and of course, Happy Fishing. Oh ya, my choice was spinner baits.

Perhaps an annual event happening for us here. My brother in-law, good friend Puckhead, and my two boys are heading to Six Mile Provincial Park for an extra looong weekend. Hoping to hook into some bass, pike, and with any luck perhaps even some walleye or whitefish. Last year my younger son, 6 yrs at the time, outfished us all. Little does he know what I have up my sleeve this year . Depending on how energetic we are feeling , I want to hit Severn to see if we can tangle with those monster musky. We have been looking forward to this trip since we headed back home from last years. Post to follow when we get back, hopefully with plenty of pics.

I have done it when I had to help myself with a boost, because a switch was left on and drained the starting battery. Then I just let the motor recharge the starting battery. However, I wouldn't use as my starter battery.

you and your band are really good. If you guys ever play in bars, you should check out this bar in Oakville called Moonshine. They have live bands every day, mostly blues bands, rock, and on certain days its basically take the mike and go for it. I have only been there a couple of times, and I was not disapointed, the bands are all very good. I have never been there on jam night, but I heard its very good too. The owner charges a cover most nights, and I think a portion goes to the band.

rack size is directly related to habitat, forage, animal age, and the severity and length of the winter.

no doubt, its the only reason I still dont have one, and why I still use my fishhawk. I already have an invention, anyone want to buy it?

Great report! What an awesome place to for a fishing vacation. That whole Vermillion Lake area looks beatiful. Definately on my list of places to go to.